What is the best age for getting married in Nigeria?

At what age is it ok for someone to get married in Nigeria? What is the best age for getting married as a man or woman?

Well, according to Nigerian, law, marriage is seen as a contract and people may only enter it by the time they reach at least 18 years old. However, that doesn't mean that many Nigerians are choosing to get married by the time they are 18.

It's very hard to pin-point an exact age for getting married in Nigeria because people are different biologically. Nigerians also come from different tribes and cultures and so it can be hard to place a specific recommendation on the best age for getting married.

Personally, If I was to recommend, I would say that 21 years of age is the best age because at that age, a Nigerian man or women must have at least seen another person he or she is at least attracted to and would want to have sex with. It's better people get married before having sex than having sex with many people and then getting married to a different person.

At the age of 21, a Nigerian would have at least received some education and have already passed through puberty. However, the problem with getting married at 21 years for most Nigerian men is on the issue of finance. Many Nigerian men at that age have little or nothing doing. If it was in the older days like in the 60s and 70s, there was little need for university or even secondary school education and people who just graduated from primary schools were able to make a living by farming or retail business. In the Nigeria of the 21st century, lack of financial independence is making a lot of Nigerian men delay their marriage even if they wanted to by the time they are 21.

Lack of government and family financial support for couples interested in getting married much earlier is part of what's making a lot of them wait longer than 21 years of age before getting married. Some wait till they are 30 and for the ladies, some wait till 25 or after they've received a university education.

Surviving in Nigeria's 21st century is becoming more expensive than it used to be and young people who are in love are normally forced to delay getting married since they don't have much resources to rely on. It's only few Nigerians who receive the support and backing of their parents or relatives that normally get married at a younger age and Nigerian women tend to get married much earlier than the men since the latter are seen as the financial backbone of the family and have to earn a living first before choosing a wife.

A lot of men and women in Nigeria would love to get married as soon as they can and some would live to marry a partner they love while others might just want to get married in order to leave their parents home but everyone in the society agrees that it's better getting married much earlier than later.

In northern Nigeria where there is little influence of western education, females tend to get marreid even as early as 12 or 15 years to men who might be twice or triple their age while in Southern Nigeria which is seen as econimically richer but also more expensive to live in, women might wait till about 21 to 25 before getting married.

A Nigerian woman shuold not expect to get married to a man her age since it's not the norm as men are encouraged to get married to women much younger than them. For a women, getting married at a younger age is to her advantage as it helps her to be able to raise her family while she is still energetic and can survive stress related to child birth and child training. For some Nigerian men, they prefer waiting for as long as they want even though prolonged delay is also part of what's contributing to lack of childlessness among Nigerian couples today.

People who marry at a younger age are more likely to get to know each other better as time passes and grow to tolerate each other as friends. They are also more likely to have more children and be lucky to see their grandchildren in time. For those Nigerians who marry later on as is common in southern Nigeria, many die early even before some of their kids have graduated from school and nowadays, its becoming common seeing many Nigerian women who are widows because their husbands have died.

Given that the life span of the modern Nigerian man is gradually reducing, it only makes sense for Nigerian men to try to get married much early than later so that they might be able to pass on their legacy to their children. For a Nigerian man, I think the right age range should be around 21 - 35 and for women, it should be 18 to 30 but at times circumstances might not always allow it.

Posted by Felix Okoli on Monday January 19, 2015 at 11:50:50:

Comments:

Re: What is the best age for getting married in Nigeria? Reply by Usman Aminu Usman on Monday June 25, 2018 at 23:8:41:

THAT IS TRUE ESPECIALLY NIGERIA.